FBI missing 184 laptops, 449 guns

1 computer held classified records

July 18, 2001|By Naftali Bendavid, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — Already under heavy fire for alleged mismanagement and incompetence, the FBI has discovered that 184 of its laptop computers have been stolen or are missing, including up to four containing classified information, bureau officials said Tuesday.

The discovery that these items were missing came during a four-week nationwide inventory by the FBI. The audit, covering approximately the last decade, was prompted by the intense scrutiny from Congress and outside investigators as a result of several recent mishaps.

One of the missing laptops contains classified information from two investigations completed several years ago, officials said, while three other laptops may also contain secret information. The FBI is still trying to determine just how much if any damage has been done by the missing data, but for now FBI officials said they are cautiously optimistic.

"There is no indication that any investigation has been compromised," said one FBI official. "But we can't conclusively state that until the investigation is complete."

The total of 184 unaccounted-for computers is tentative, and a larger number may ultimately be reported. The bureau's efforts to get a handle on the missing hardware has been hampered because some laptops are passed from agent to agent and obsolete computers can be destroyed with little bureau documentation kept.

Of the missing guns, 184 were reported stolen and the remaining 265 were believed lost in other ways, the report said. Criminal investigations may be opened in the cases of nearly 70 guns that disappeared when agents retired or were fired.

Gravity still unclear

The seriousness of the inventory report is still unclear, but it plays into a growing criticism that the FBI's record-keeping and information management is dangerously lax.

The problem was illustrated most dramatically in May, when Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft was forced to delay Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's execution for one month after discovering that the FBI had failed to turn over thousands of pages of documents to his defense team. The latest episode is certain to add to the calls for change.

"To have laptops missing that could have national security information on them would be atrocious," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), one of the FBI's fiercest critics. "For the FBI to have lost firearms and failed to account for them is inexcusable. ... This disclosure of missing firearms and laptops is another indication of the need for fundamental reform."

The FBI, long one of the government's most venerated agencies, is undergoing a period of nearly unprecedented criticism, scrutiny and transition.

Former Director Louis Freeh announced he was stepping down in May, and President Bush has named longtime prosecutor Robert Mueller to succeed him, based in part on Mueller's reputation as an efficient manager who knows how to clean up a bureaucracy. Mueller's confirmation hearings may begin as early as next week.

The FBI has made mistakes on several high-profile cases. The Bureau was accused of bungling an espionage case against Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, for example, and its image was tarnished further by the arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who confessed to spying for Moscow for 15 years.

Missteps by the agency also included the bureau's deadly sieges at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

The FBI now finds itself under a microscope. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is holding a series of hearings on the FBI's problems, including one Wednesday. William Webster, former director of the FBI and CIA, is heading an inquiry into the bureau's security procedures.

Prompted by Tuesday's revelations, as well as a report of 539 guns missing last March from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Ashcroft has ordered a review of department-wide procedures for keeping track of guns and other sensitive equipment.

Gaining public confidence

"In order for law-enforcement organizations to be effective, they must have the public's confidence in their ability to perform not only the most complex duties, but also the most basic responsibilities," Ashcroft said.

The 184 missing computers are a fraction of the 13,000 laptops the FBI owns, but they contribute to an image of mismanagement. The incident recalls an episode last year when the State Department lost a laptop containing classified information, igniting furious criticism of Clinton administration security procedures.

Keeping track of guns, meanwhile, is one of the most basic functions of a law-enforcement agency. As with the computers, the 449 missing weapons are a small proportion of the FBI's 50,000 firearms, especially as 91 of them are training guns that cannot fire.

In acknowledging the problem Tuesday, officials sought to send the message that a tough new regime is in town. Each missing gun will be tackled as an individual case, they said, with FBI supervisors ordered to conduct mandatory investigations to search for each weapon.